Responding to Tragedy with Grace

We invite you to pray for Grace Baptist Church in Windsor after a fire broke out in their building this past Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

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As Pastor Stan Mantle reports:

“The fire began in the crawl space underneath the sanctuary.  We don’t know how it started; the investigation is continuing.

The area underneath the platform is badly burnt, likely necessitating building a new platform area. The adjacent room and the baptism change room above are also damaged, in addition to water damage in the basement from the water the fire department used in fighting the fire. At one point the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke, and not for any good Biblical reason.

Thankfully six of us had just finished a deacons’ meeting in the other end of the church and were setting up tables in the multi-purpose room for an upcoming event when the fire alarm went off.  When we began to search for the cause we soon found the fire, well in progress.  We were able to put two fire extinguishers on it before the firefighters arrived.

A few more minutes and we might have lost that whole end of the building if not more.  We thank the Lord no one was hurt.

How blessed we are to have fire professionals who respond quickly in such a time.  In ten minutes three or four fire trucks and numerous firefighters were on the scene.  How different this is from similar situations in other parts of the world.  We had just spoken in our meeting about a recent fire in one of the refugee camps on the border of Thailand where 40 people, mostly women and children, were killed and over 200 injured. There were no fire trucks to the rescue there.”

We’re amazed by the way church members put themselves in harm’s way to fight the blaze. And we deeply admire the way the community responded by counting their blessings and retaining awareness of even more acute needs on the other side of our world.

Please pray for Grace Baptist Church during this time of adjustment.  They will be meeting for worship in their gymnasium for several weeks before returning to their sanctuary later this spring.  (As insurance will be covering the damages, no additional donations for the rebuild are required at this time.)

 

3 thoughts on “Responding to Tragedy with Grace”

  1. We at Bilberry Creek Baptist Church, Orleans will be praying for your church in this time of transition and confusion. It can be extremely stressful to many individuals but we do thank the Lord that you have a gym to meet in–what a blessing that is!

  2. Thanks be to God for no injuries, and for quick action. As Shadrach & Friends showed, how we face our fires is an opportunity to testify to God’s faithfulness. Perhaps Grace could put up banners outside: “we’re on fire for the Lord” … “we fired ourselves” … “burnt offerings cancelled until further notice” … “ash wednesday every week” … “the only church with a smoking section” … 🙂

  3. We at First Baptist, Bracebridge will be praying for you and we rejoice that no one was hurt and that you did not lose the whole building. God bless each of you as you continue to serve him under these difficult circumstances.

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